Kevin O’Donnell has been appointed president of Crownair Aviation. He previously served as CEO and CFO.
EADS Socata has appointed Jean-Michel Leonard chairman and CEO. He succeeds Stephane Mayer, who was appointed CEO of turboprop airliner manufacturer ATR.
Dr. Ahmed Metwalli has joined Aerospace Products International as president and COO. He was formerly v-p and general manager of International Operations at Lockheed Martin.
John Hinshaw has been named chief information officer of Boeing. He previously served as CIO of Verizon Wireless. Hinshaw is replacing Scott Griffin, who is retiring after 28 years with Boeing.
PrivatAir has appointed Napo Hohn CEO for North America. He has been with the company for 20 years and served in various senior management positions.
Hawker Beechcraft has hired former AAR Aircraft Services executive William Brown as president of global customer support, replacing Randy Groom. Edward Petkus has been named v-p for new product development. His most recent position was director of 787 airplane development at Boeing.
Goodrich has named Dan Pleshko chief supply chain officer. He most recently served as v-p for supply chain management.
Jeffrey Harris has been named senior v-p and COO of AirNet Systems. He previously served as senior v-p for bank services.
M. David Kornblatt has been appointed senior v-p and CFO of Triumph Group. Before this appointment, he served as senior v-p and CFO of Carpenter Technology.
The Aeronautical Repair Station Association announced the following promotions: Christian Klein has been appointed executive v-p and Virginia Scattergood has been named director of government relations and legislative counsel.
Dan Hollingshead was named executive vice president at The Papé Group. He previously served as managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Era named Axel Bensch regional director for the Asia-Pacific region. He has held senior positions at Sabre Airline Solutions, Lochard, Lufthansa Systems, Rosenbluth International, Amadeus and Galileo.
Sabreliner has named David Bauman v-p of Southeast Missouri operations. He was previously senior v-p of aircraft maintenance for NetJets Aviation. In addition, Cindy Tekeser was promoted to senior manager of contracts, and Celia Reiter was promoted to contracts administrator.
Joe Gibney has been named v-p of sales and marketing at Signature Flight Support. He has served as general manager of the Signature Flight Support FBO at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport in Missouri.
Cessna promoted Stan Younger to v-p for service facilities. His most recent position was director of Citation service facilities.
Avantair named Darren Blackett v-p of sales and marketing, and Mark Whitman sales director of a newly formed territory in the North and Midwest. Kevin Beitzel, formerly director of maintenance, has been named v-p of maintenance.
Sam Arbel has been named v-p of business development for military programs at IAI International, the American subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries International.
Ernie Santiago has joined Xojet as v-p of Western region sales. He most recently served as executive vice president and partner at Guardian Jet.
John Bales has been named director of Spirit of St. Louis Airport. He was formerly assistant director and deputy county director of aviation.
Rodney Shumake has joined Precision Aviation Group as marketing communications director.
Steve Zaat has joined Quest Aircraft as director of customer service. He was previously senior manager of business development at Boeing’s advanced logistics support division.
Chris Lewis has been named director of fuel purchasing at AvCard. Before he joined the company, Lewis was an area general manager for a commercial aviation fueling organization.
Private Jet Services Group has appointed Scott Feldman director of marketing. He previously served as marketing director for Nimbit and director of media relations at Rock.com.
SheltAir Aviation Services has appointed Joe Ribaudo marketing director. He previously served as marketing coordinator.
Todd Newell was appointed director of operational excellence at Crane Aerospace and Electronics. He previously served as operational excellence director for Crane Valves North America.
Ken Farsi was named director of aircraft certification at Associated Air Center, a Landmark Aviation company at Dallas Love Field. He most recently served as DAS administrator at L-3 Communications.
DayJet has announced the addition of former NASA chief strategist Bruce Holmes as director of air systems research. Holmes was the creator of the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments alliance and the Small Aircraft Transportation System.
Gulfstream Aerospace named Dan Watts director of final phase operations. Joseph Drake has been named director of real estate.
Richard Holmes has been appointed engineering manager at Twin Commander. He has worked for various Seattle-area aircraft manufacturers and contractors and has designed repairs for Boeing products.
ACM Aviation has appointed Justin Briggs, formerly regional director of TAG Aviation and Raytheon Aircraft Charter, its new charter and business development manager.
Duncan Aviation named Bob Hazy as Denver satellite shop manager. He has served as line lead since 2004.
Embraer announced the recent appointments of four new sales managers: Cameron Gowans, Gregory Babcock, Michael Payne and Timon Huber.
Bob Hala has joined Flight Display Systems as Southeast regional sales manager. He was previously a flight instructor at PDK Flight Academy.
Awards & Honors
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Peter Byrne received the Koren Kolligian Jr. Trophy June 5 for successfully landing his F-16C after suffering a stroke during tactical maneuvering in June last year. During the flight, his vertebral artery dissected and caused vertigo, loss of visual acuity and fine motor skills. He continued flying for 90 minutes on autopilot, and then flew the aircraft back to Buckley AFB in Colorado. The Kolligian Trophy is an annual safety award presented by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
Final Flights
Peter Wright Sr., founder of Keystone Helicopter and chairman of the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center, died June 1. He is a former U.S. Naval aviator who resigned from the Navy to fly P-40s in China against the Japanese. He returned to the U.S. in 1942 and accepted a job at American Export Airlines, flying Sikorsky VS-44s. He joined Helicopter Air Transport in 1946 as sales manager. In 1953 he started Keystone Helicopter and served as president until 1985, when he became chairman. He founded the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester, Pa., in 1993 and also served as director of the Helicopter Association of America. He is the recipient of numerous Helicopter Association International and other aeronautical awards for his work and dedication to the helicopter industry.
